Peace Is Tough

There will and there won’t be peace on Earth – what a shame. With "Peace is tough", Terranova present to the world a laconically appropriate title in the fall of 2003.So what, another new Terranova album already? A little bit less but more at the same time: "Peace is tough" fuses together five new tracks with six new versions of previously released tracks (which have so far only been available on vinyl and in limited edition) on one CD. This is how the new and the no longer new come about via the reassessment and further development of used materials – an album for newcomers, a little best of collection."Peace is tough" forms a unit with its predecessor, "Hitchhiking Non-Stop With No Particular Destination" (2002): practically a double album. We hear deep into the heart, the body and the room that Berlin DJ and producer Fetisch has filled with beats, bass lines and a "menacing restlessness" since the mid-nineties under the name Terranova – sounds of the present, to which "girls head bang and execute break dancing maneuvers on the dance floor, while the boys watch open-mouthed from the bar" (Sueddeutsche Zeitung). The game of one’s own origins, of the ups and downs of one’s own biography: In the case of DJ Fetisch, this stretches a long way back and far into the future. Terranova albums are always a reflection on twenty years of clubbing in London, New York and Berlin and answers to the questions: What rocks? What still gets people onto the dance floor, or to pull into the fast lane when driving, in the twentieth year (???) of techno and the fiftieth year (???) of punk rock? A hard attack, guitars and bass. It may, it must hurt when listened to. The fact that what one believes one knows sounds different to that which one has stored in the memory is the appeal, the thrill and the lesson of this CD: At numerous points, practiced Terranova listeners will have an "I know that!" or a "No! Even better! I don’t know it!" experience.To the opening track, the actress Mavie H√∂rbiger was once to be seen, as the coma patient dancing around her hospital bed in Nicolette Krebitz’s directorial debut, "Jeans". "When in Rome‚Ä¶" growls and bubbles like the Terranova hit "Sublime". "Rockmongril", "Walk with Me" and "Running Away (KKDub)" are more like new versions than remixes of the old Terranova hits. "Addict" and "Get it on" are fast, old-fashioned classic EBM numbers that rock the shit sick – club classics. Alongside the usual members of the Terranova family (Cath Coffey from the Stereo MCs and Ari-Up (ex-Slits)), "Peace is tough" presents a spectacular newcomer as MC on the vocals: On the EBM number, "Addict", the Hamburg performance artist, Jake, stammers his distressing message: "It hurts to be cool." Yes. Ouch. Give me more.Like its predecessor, this disc seems to be thrown together: A work of art. We know, we’re not holding back at this point, that a certain roughness, minimal production and an apparent lack of proficiency in the sound – Factory style – has always represented high culture in club music, on the perfection of which practiced hands and fine ears have worked long hours. Like some of the greats in rock history (Joe Strummer, Elvis), only when Fetisch is behind the steering wheel, he’s not allowed to put it in gear and put his foot down. The automobile on the cover is a 1972 Ferrari GT4 308. Its driver – can you believe it? – has no driving license.